Parashat Beha'alotekha

Torah Portions

Beha’alotekha (“When You Raise”) opens with God instructing Moses to inaugurate the Levites for service in the Tabernacle. It also recounts the stories of people who request a second chance to offer the Passover sacrifice, the people of Israel's complaints and punishments, and a disease that affects Miriam.

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A Second Chance for Passover

TANAKH

As they near the first anniversary of leaving Egypt, the people of Israel receive instructions for celebrating Passover for the first time since the Exodus. But some of the people are in a state of ritual impurity that precludes them partaking in the paschal lamb sacrifice, so they ask Moses how they, too, can participate in the holiday.

But there were some householders who were impure by reason of a corpse and could not offer the passover sacrifice on that day. Appearing that same day before Moses and Aaron, those householders said to them, “Impure though we are by reason of a corpse, why must we be debarred from presenting יהוה’s offering at its set time with the rest of the Israelites?” Moses said to them, “Stand by, and let me hear what instructions יהוה gives about you.” And יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people…

Numbers 9:6-14

Other Prophets in the Camp

TANAKH

Moses was not the only person to receive prophecy during the Israelite journey through the wilderness. In Numbers chapter 11, we learn of others who prophesied, including two named Eldad and Meidad.

Two of the participants, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in camp; yet the spirit rested upon them—they were among those recorded, but they had not gone out to the Tent—and they spoke in ecstasy in the camp. An assistant ran out and told Moses, saying, “Eldad and Medad are acting the prophet in the camp!” And Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant from his youth, spoke up and said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!” But Moses said to him, “Are you wrought up on my account? Would that all יהוה’s people were prophets, that יהוה put [the divine] spirit upon them!”

Numbers 11:26-29

Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses

TANAKH

Most of the biblical stories involving the siblings Miriam, Aaron, and Moses show them supporting one another to lead the people together. At the end of Parashat Beha’alotekha, Miriam and Aaron speak critically against Moses, and God defends Moses against them.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had taken [into his household as his wife]: “He took a Cushite woman!” They said, “Has יהוה spoken only through Moses? Has [God] not spoken through us as well?” יהוה heard it. Now Moses himself was very humble, more so than any other human being on earth. Suddenly יהוה called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three of them went out. יהוה came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward;…

Numbers 12:1-15

Complaints About Complaints

MIDRASH

The people of Israel complaining to Moses and to God is a repeated theme in the book of Numbers. The early midrashic work Sifrei Bamidbar interprets and expands on an exchange between God and Moses about the people’s complaints.

(Bamidbar 11:21) "And Moses said: Six hundred thousand foot, etc.": R. Shimon b. Yochai said: R. Akiva expounded this in one way, and I, in two ways, and my words seem more cogent. R. Akiva expounds it plainly, viz. (Ibid. 22) "If flocks and herds are slaughtered for them will it be sufficient for them?" Even if you give them all the flocks and herds (in the world), will it be sufficient for them? And I understand it as follows: "If flocks and herds are slaughtered for them will it be sufficient for them?" Even if you give them all the flocks and herds in the world, they would grumble…

Sifrei Bamidbar 95:1

Seventy (Plus) Elders

MIDRASH

In Parashat Beha’alotekha, Moses complains to God that he cannot bear the burden of leadership alone, so God instructs him to gather seventy elders to share in the prophecy. Bamidbar Rabbah, a medieval midrash on the book of Numbers, describes the process by which Moses chose the elders.

Another matter, “Gather to Me seventy men” – when the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men” – Moses said: ‘What shall I do? If I bring five from each and every tribe, they will not total a sum of seventy, they will total sixty. If I bring six from this tribe and five from that tribe, I will introduce jealousy between one tribe and another.’ What did he do? He took seventy-two notes and wrote “elder” [on seventy of] them, and [took] an additional two blank notes, and mixed them in a receptacle. He said: ‘Come and take your note…

Bamidbar Rabbah 15:19

Tzipporah’s Hardship

COMMENTARY

The details of Miriam and Aaron’s criticism of Moses remain ambiguous in the biblical account. Rashi, the renowned 11th-century northern French rabbi and commentator, offers answers to various questions raised by the story, based on midrashic tradition.

ותדבר מרים ואהרן AND MIRIAM AND AARON SPAKE — She opened the conversation, therefore Scripture mentions her first. And whence did Miriam know that Moses had separated himself from his wife (for this was the statement she made; cf. Rashi below)? R. Nathan answered: “Miriam was beside Zipporah When it was told to Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp’ (Numbers 11:27). When Zipporah heard this, she exclaimed, Woe to the wives of these if they have anything to do with prophecy, for they will separate from their wives just has my husband has separated from me!” It was from this that…

Rashi on Numbers 12:1:2

An Encampment or a Congregation?

JEWISH THOUGHT

Numbers chapter 10 describes the use of silver trumpets to gather and mobilize the tribes of Israel in the wilderness. Rabbi Joseph Ber Soleveitchik, a rabbinic leader of 20th century Orthodox Judaism in America, picks up on a nuance of language in the Torah to discuss different possible sociological models for the people of Israel.

In order to explain the difference between a People of Fate and a Nation of Destiny it ‎is ‎appropriate to deal with a different contrast — that between an Encampment and a ‎Congregation. ‎The Torah used both of these concepts with respect to Israel. “Make for yourself ‎two silver ‎trumpets of hammered work; and they shall be to summon the congregation and ‎for ‎causing the encampments to set forth” (Numbers 10:2, emphasis added).‎ Encampment and Congregation constitute two different sociological experiences…

Kol Dodi Dofek, Encampment and Congregation 1-2

Inverted Nuns

TALMUD

A pair of verses in Parashat Beha’alotekha are bracketed in the written Torah scroll with inverted versions of the Hebrew letter nun. The Talmud, the foundational text of rabbinic Judaism, includes a discussion of the significance of these unusual glyphs.

Apropos the portion: “And when the Ark traveled,” the Gemara cites that which the Sages taught in a baraita. It is stated: “And when the Ark traveled and Moses proclaimed: Rise up, God, and Your enemies will scatter and those who hate You will flee from before You.” And The Holy One, Blessed be He, made signs in the Torah for this portion, above and below, i.e., before and after it, in order to say that this is not its place, as the previous portion does not discuss the nation’s travels…

Shabbat 115b:7-116a:4

To Desire a Desire

CHASIDUT

The Torah portion describes the people’s appetite for meat causing strife between them and God. But the Chasidic master Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, in his work Sefat Emet, describes the righteous, if misguided, goal the people of Israel had in hungering for meat.

Avot (2:4) states, “Make your will like that of Hashem, so that He will make His will like your will.” This advises on perfecting one’s desire. When one connects their will to a mitzvah and good deeds, their desires become linked to holiness and Hashem. This attachment ensures that even when faced with other desires, one remains connected to Hashem. The ingrained holiness protects these desires from becoming corrupted, enabling one to uplift all desires to Hashem.
One must believe that even foreign desires can be for the good, helping to form a true desire to serve Hashem…

Sefat Emet, Numbers, Beha'alotcha 2:3

Illustration of the Menorah with a quote from Parashat Beha’alotcha: "Ve'zeh ma'aseh haMenorah" (Now this is how the lampstand was made), from harley_ms_5710_f136r, Bible with masorah magna and parva. Courtesy British Library Harley 5710.